Indivisible
Part I: Two as One
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"The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be." - Socrates
~~~
Alluvius. Mid-Consolidation. Two people dressed as officers of the Seventh Sword approached the Gate system. The badges on their arms marked them as Guardsmen, but their actions were dubious. Each of the main company camps were running double shifts of guards to protect from incursions by the ever growing number of dissidents. Rumors were abound throughout, citing dereliction by the officers of the First Sword, to outright rebellion on their part, though the reasons why were always vague, as if some other agency were preventing the dissemination of information. Earlier in the week, one of the alleged chief agents of the so called rebellion had been captured, and was considered extremely dangerous - using abilities never before seen to Travel from company to company, causing havoc, until he was apprehended and brought under guard by the First Sword. Still, every company was on alert should he escape and try to hide within the Empire, and an Imperial Magus was brought in at the request of the Council in order to interrogate or barring that stripping his power from him, whatever its source. Thus it was more than questionable when the two guardsmen stopped before the control crystals, one on watch while the other began to shift things within the panel setting, causing the rings of the Gate to begin to glow with soft silvery light.
The elder of the two was the first to speak, "This won't work....you don't understand..." his utterance broke off with a sigh, as the younger glared daggers up from his meddling.
"You've already conceded that we won't find him, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack - except the haystack is the size of an entire realm. This ....Mission is a failure." At the admission, the youth ground his teeth, audibly. But, he'd been there long enough. He'd rather report a failure to her, than spend an eternity on some hopeless, pointless, errand. Just then, the rings of the Gate surged to complete power, and he gestured to it with a smirk, "Age before beauty?"
This earned him a glare from the elder, "We shouldn't risk this. We'll be caught." They would risk it, because although the Autumn Lord would chastise Kaiden, he hadn't been entirely honest with him either. He hadn't explained to him that his one weakness lay through those rings. And that he had no way of resisting its temptation. Grabbing the youth quickly and roughly by the back of the neck, he pushed him into the Gates and watched him vanish, following himself a moment later; cloak pulled up and prepared to avert his eyes, though it pained him to not give in to his unyielding urge to stare. Travel by Gate was largely instantaneous, and so it was that they arrived at the mid-point, as Kristoph had predicted. Kaiden had simply taken them back to Horizon.
Fiona had felt someone trying to tap into her realm. She became curious and granted them entrance, though she was more than willing to allow them to think they had been able to manage it on their own. She recognized them from when they approached her in her office. At least, she recognized the younger one. There was something familiar in him. The other one always seemed to be hiding himself, never letting her really see him. She did not trust him because of his hiding, though she hid in this realm too often herself. Her voice became deep and harsh.
"Why do you come here?"
Part I: Two as One
~~~
"The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be." - Socrates
~~~
Alluvius. Mid-Consolidation. Two people dressed as officers of the Seventh Sword approached the Gate system. The badges on their arms marked them as Guardsmen, but their actions were dubious. Each of the main company camps were running double shifts of guards to protect from incursions by the ever growing number of dissidents. Rumors were abound throughout, citing dereliction by the officers of the First Sword, to outright rebellion on their part, though the reasons why were always vague, as if some other agency were preventing the dissemination of information. Earlier in the week, one of the alleged chief agents of the so called rebellion had been captured, and was considered extremely dangerous - using abilities never before seen to Travel from company to company, causing havoc, until he was apprehended and brought under guard by the First Sword. Still, every company was on alert should he escape and try to hide within the Empire, and an Imperial Magus was brought in at the request of the Council in order to interrogate or barring that stripping his power from him, whatever its source. Thus it was more than questionable when the two guardsmen stopped before the control crystals, one on watch while the other began to shift things within the panel setting, causing the rings of the Gate to begin to glow with soft silvery light.
The elder of the two was the first to speak, "This won't work....you don't understand..." his utterance broke off with a sigh, as the younger glared daggers up from his meddling.
"You've already conceded that we won't find him, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack - except the haystack is the size of an entire realm. This ....Mission is a failure." At the admission, the youth ground his teeth, audibly. But, he'd been there long enough. He'd rather report a failure to her, than spend an eternity on some hopeless, pointless, errand. Just then, the rings of the Gate surged to complete power, and he gestured to it with a smirk, "Age before beauty?"
This earned him a glare from the elder, "We shouldn't risk this. We'll be caught." They would risk it, because although the Autumn Lord would chastise Kaiden, he hadn't been entirely honest with him either. He hadn't explained to him that his one weakness lay through those rings. And that he had no way of resisting its temptation. Grabbing the youth quickly and roughly by the back of the neck, he pushed him into the Gates and watched him vanish, following himself a moment later; cloak pulled up and prepared to avert his eyes, though it pained him to not give in to his unyielding urge to stare. Travel by Gate was largely instantaneous, and so it was that they arrived at the mid-point, as Kristoph had predicted. Kaiden had simply taken them back to Horizon.
Fiona had felt someone trying to tap into her realm. She became curious and granted them entrance, though she was more than willing to allow them to think they had been able to manage it on their own. She recognized them from when they approached her in her office. At least, she recognized the younger one. There was something familiar in him. The other one always seemed to be hiding himself, never letting her really see him. She did not trust him because of his hiding, though she hid in this realm too often herself. Her voice became deep and harsh.
"Why do you come here?"